Burgundian Netherlands

The Burgundian Netherlands was a personal union of Imperial and French fiefs in the Low Countries that existed from 1384 to 1482. The area comprised large parts of present-day Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as Luxembourg and parts of northern France. The Duchy of Burgundy acquired the County of Flanders in 1384 after Margaret III of Flanders married Duke Philip the Bold, a member of the House of Valois-Burgundy. Burgundy proceeded to purchase more Imperial fiefs in the region, acquiring the County of Namur in 1421, the duchies of Brabant and Limburg in 1430, Hainaut, Holland, and Zeeland in 1432, and the Duchy of Luxembourg in 1441. In 1473, Guelders was also incorporated into the personal union. The Burgundian Netherlands passed on to the House of Habsburg in 1482 with Mary of Burgundy's marriage to Emperor Maximilian I of Germany, and the Burgundian Netherlands became known as the "Habsburg Netherlands".